The Lost Chip
by Dawn Totadile
Summary: Chip has been captured by Fat Cat and its up to Dale to save him, but will the Rescue Rangers make it in time to save their leader? Find out as they also learn something about the two chipmunks who lead their team and the kind of life they had before hand. Rated due to my version of violence and gore I guess. Sorry but I felt compelled to write this story,... Rescue Rangers Away!
1. Prolouge

Prologue

Sometimes, some crimes go slipping through the cracks, but these few gumshoes are picking up the slack. There's no case to big, no case to small, if you need help just call Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers. These were simple facts that could be observed throughout the animal kingdom. They always seem to know just what to do when problems came there way. All it took was someone to ask for help and they'd all come running faster than Monterey could sniff out cheese. There was Monterey Jack the Cheese explorer and his pal Zipper, the fly, and Gadget Hackwrench, their mechanic and pilot. Then there was the two chipmunks who were the best of friends, Chip and Dale.

At the moment though, Chip was in trouble. Chip had found himself beaten and tied up to a chair. He had no clue how long he had been there, only that he was the bait for his friends. He was only alive enough to still be bait. He hated it. He knew who was doing this to him, who was humiliating him and endangering his friends. He knew they had already sent a video of him. He had seen the camera. He had seen Fat Cat, his arch nemesis, laughing at him as Fat Cat's lackeys pummeled him. He was barely able to keep conscious anymore. He was all on his own now.


	2. Chapter 1: Chip

Chip recalled how he had gotten into this mess in the first place. He had been all alone when he heard the alarm. Someone in town had been stealing fish again and to top it off there was also a sudden rise of robberies as well. Gadget and Dale were in Africa on a mission to help the bats with some issues they've been having with their sonar senses. Monty and Zipper had gone to visit Monty's parents in Australia. Chip was on his own in the treehouse. He hadn't thought that the case was too dangerous to do on his own, so he hadn't bothered to call the others for help. He made the mistake of thinking that he could scout around without getting caught, but they were expecting him. Fat Cat knew that at least one Rescue Ranger would show up, and if one showed up, then he could use them as bait for the rest. Fat Cat had gotten lucky because Chip, the leader of the Rescue Rangers, had fallen for his schemes and was now his prisoner.

Chip looked up weakly while trying to stay awake. He missed his friends. He missed Zipper buzzing around the treehouse. He missed Monterey's adventure stories. He missed Gadget's inventions swooping in and saving their tails. He didn't have to think hard about the thing he missed and yet worried about the most, his twin brother, Dale. Dale was always getting into some type of trouble without meaning to. He just couldn't help it. Surprisingly enough, it was often his wild, fun loving side, which allowed him to help save the day.

Chip managed to grimace as he passed out once more thinking of his best friend and brother. The last thought on his mind was about their first adventure where they had met the others on the team and got started on their career as Rescue Rangers. Dale had been a big help that day.

'… Dale's always been a big help… Dale… where are you Dale?' How was Chip to know that at that very moment, Dale was wondering the same thing about him?


	3. Chapter 2: Dale's Secret Side

When they had all came home, they had found that Chip had been missing for a week. They couldn't imagine how much trouble he was in until they saw Mole wandering around trying to find them so he could deliver a tape. Monterey had nearly shaken the poor creature to death to find out what was on the tape. Mole barely managed to escape from the angry mouse as Gadget put the tape onto their screen in their base. She called Monterey up while Dale watched the screen intently, as though his life depended on it.

The remaining Rescue Rangers were stunned as they looked at a video of Chip being beaten by Fat Cat's gang. Dale's eyes widened as he saw his best friend bleeding and bruised. His jacket was shredded and his hat was nowhere in sight, probably being used as a trophy by Fat Cat. "Let this be a lesson to you all. Never mess with Fat Cat, unless you wish to feel my wrath." The tape cut off so suddenly that they could barely believe it.

Everyone but Dale was panicking. Dale was just sitting there, stunned, staring at the screen. "Chip…" Dale closed his eyes and for probably the first time in years, he started to think seriously.

Monterey grabbed a bag full of rope and other objects for any kind of rescue he could think of. "Let's go get 'em, gang! We'll make 'em pay for what they did to our li'l Chipper!"

"Monty, we can't go without a plan though! We could all end up captured and then there'd be no one to save him." Gadget pulled on the large mouse's tail to try and stop him from doing something rash. Zipper was trying to push him back from the front, but the little fly wasn't doing much help with that.

When Dale opened his eyes, there was a dangerous glare in them. Something in him had awakened from his youth. He had almost lost Chip over a million times because of all these crazy things that happened in their lives, but now he was in a situation where Chip wasn't just going to pull a miracle stunt and walk right on in. Chip needed help, and Dale wasn't going to let his best friend down. He looked towards the argument and sighed. He knew what he had to do, but he didn't like it. He had promised himself that he would never do it again, though he had come close many times since joining the Rescue Rangers. Dale would have to use his special skills, which he had forgotten long ago.

Dale looked towards Zipper, Monterey, and Gadget, noticing their arguing wasn't stopping them from going closer to the door. He decided that he needed to stop acting like nutcase Dale and start acting like Danger Dale; the average intelligent, but exceedingly dangerous chipmunk that had scared Chip as a child, or so Dale thought. Dale didn't have a knack for inventing, but he did have a head for being resourceful, which was often dangerous to the young chipmunks. Dale had promised himself that he would never become Danger Dale ever again, which had resulted in him becoming a goofball. After a few years, Chip had forgotten all about Dale being smart, and that was how Dale liked it.

"HEY!" Dale was not going to let him being a goofball for the last few years make him lose his friends. All three stopped and looked at him in astonishment. Dale rarely yelled at them. "Chip's in trouble and we've gotta save him! This is no time for arguing!" Dale ran up to his private room that none of the other Rescue Rangers had access to. He unlocked to door and took a deep breath. "It's to save Chip, just remember that…" He walked in and within five minutes came back out wearing an outfit similar to Chip's signature outfit. The only difference was that he was wearing a matching satchel with it. "It's time for Danger Dale to show his face again." He walked right up to Monterey Jack, who was still arguing with Gadget about going after Chip. "If you two are just going to stand there arguing, I'm going after Chip on my own."

"But Dale!" The two then got a good look at Dale's outfit. He looked just like Chip. The only way to tell them apart was the red nose and the satchel. "Whoa! Where'd ya get that outfit, pally?"

"Forget the outfit, we need to save Chip. Now are you all going to keep arguing or are you going to listen to my plan?" Dale had never looked so serious in his life.

Gadget was too stunned to speak. She had never realized how much alike the two chipmunks really were. Monterey on the other hand was more surprised that Dale had a plan, or even had the gumption to interrupt their argument. He was usually just a childish chipmunk that was taken care of by his friend, Chip. Now that Chip was in trouble, Dale wasn't going to let that stop him. He was going after his pal. "You have a plan, pally?"

"Of course I do! We're going to the casino and while you create a distraction, I rescue Chip. It's not that hard to do! We make distractions there all the time! Look, just have Gadget dress up and do dancing while you start playing piano or something. Zipper, you keep watch and if Fat Cat or the others come anywhere need them, I want you to pull the second switch from the right on the light switches. It will black out the whole place. Gadget, you and Monty will need some night vision goggles so that you can get out of there. Make sure Zipper has some too. I'm going to sneak in and find Chip while you keep Fat Cat and his goons occupied. Any questions?" Before they could ask, he was already off towards the Ranger Plane.


	4. Chapter 3: To Rescue a Rescue Ranger

It didn't take long for Dale's plan to work. Everyone was shocked. He had tried to be leader on the day that Fat Cat had stolen seashells to capture fish. That incident hadn't worked out too well, but it seems that Dale hadn't really been at the top of his game that day. Gadget had Fat Cat and the others distracted while Monterey played the piano. Zipper stayed in the shadows next to the light switch just as Dale had told him.

While all that was happening up top, Dale was wandering the old cat food factory underneath it, looking for his friend. It didn't take him long to find a small trail of blood drops. "Chip!" Dale ran after the trail as fast as he could, running through the maze of the factory. Wart, a moronic lizard, was guarding a door. Dale didn't have time to deal with him though, Chip was hurt and needed help. Dale grabbed some rope that he had stuffed into his bag. "Just gotta aim it right… got it!" He had latched onto the tail of the unfortunate lizard.

"What was that?" He looked towards the end of the rope and noticed the unfortunate chipmunk. "Oh, it's the other Chipmunk! Heh, Fat Cat will be so proud of me." He started towards Dale, only to find the young chipmunk running around his legs and tripping him up. "OOF!"

Dale then hit him on the head. "Night, night!" Wart was out like a light. Dale glared at the unconscious lizard, making sure he would no longer be any trouble. When he was satisfied, he ran into the room through a hole in the door that was large enough for Fat Cat. What he saw in the room was worse than what had been shown on the tape.

Chip was unconscious and tied to a chair, bleeding and bruised, as though he had barely come out of a war zone. Chip's coat was in tatters and his hat was on a nearby dart on a dart board with a picture of Chip on it.

"Chip… Chip!" Dale ran to the chipmunk and started untying him, all the while trying to reassure himself that his best friend wasn't dead. "Come on, Chip, talk to me! Chip! Oh please be okay!"

Chip could hear a voice, but he wasn't sure of whose voice it was. Everything seemed to echo to him. He barely managed to open his eyes. He turned his head towards what he thought was a memory. He recognized the outfit to be his own, but the chipmunk wearing it had a red nose and a surprisingly serious face on it. "D…d…Dale…?" He barely managed to whisper as Dale finally undid the rope and Chip started to fall forward from the chair.

Dale barely caught him. "I got you Chip. Just hang on." He picked up the poor chipmunk carefully and ran towards the Ranger Plane. He gently placed Chip in the back of the plane. He then flew up to find Gadget, Monterey and Zipper waiting for him just outside the casino. He let down the rope ladder and the two mice climbed up while the fly flew up as fast as he could.

"CHIP!" Zipper nearly screamed as he caught sight of the beaten rodent.

"Oh my! Chip!" Gadget's eyes widened with fear as she climbed into the passenger seat as Dale started the plane off towards their base.

"Oh poor little Chipper! He looks…!"

"Don't even say it Monterey!" Dale glared at him as he sat himself down next to Chip and Zipper. Monterey closed his lips and looked back to a cursing Fat Cat at the edge of his Casino building.


	5. Chapter 4: The Chipmunk Story

Dale and Gadget both worked together with Zipper's help to bandage up their friend. Monterey kept himself occupied by looking for a spare outfit for Chip in the twins' room. What he found instead shocked him.

"Blimey!" He whispered in shock. He had found a journal that Chip had been writing. Chip had been writing in journals since he was a very small chipmunk. He would often bring out his recent journals during the holidays and remind everyone about old adventures they had together. The particular journal in Monterey's hand was from before Chip and Dale had met them all and started the Rescue Rangers. He was surprised to find that he had accidently stumbled on such an old book. He sat himself down at the kitchen table and started reading it, hoping to find out why Dale was acting the way he was, but what he found was more than he bargained for.

Gadget looked at Dale's determined expression as he dabbed his brother's head with a damp washcloth. "You're gonna be okay, Chip… you're gonna be okay… Chip…" Dale's eyes were filled with tears as he thought about all the times they had been in danger, and yet, it never really felt all that dangerous, not like this at least. There had always been a bit of danger with their lives, but they hadn't had anything this bad since they were children.

Gadget decided to leave them alone and took Zipper downstairs to talk to Monterey. "How is he?" Monterey asked as he looked up from the book. He had just finished reading about an incident that had happened just before Dale had started being, well, Dale the dummy.

"Chip should be fine, he's still unconscious though. He looked pretty bad, but Dale and I patched him up as much as we could. Hopefully, he'll be awake enough in the morning to eat something. He doesn't look like he's eaten anything in days." Gadget sat down next to Monterey while Zipper sat on the table.

"I hope so too, but what about Dale? How's he doing?"

Gadget looked up with a bit of confusion. "Dale? He's just sitting there next to Chip, watching over him. He keeps trying to reassure himself that he's going to be okay and dabbing Chip's forehead with that cloth. Why? Do you think something's wrong with Dale too?" Gadget had lived in isolation after her dad had died and was still trying to get used to understanding other creatures reactions.

"I think I just found out why Dale usually acts like a complete goofball…" He showed the journal with some newspaper clippings from a small chipmunk village in the redwood forests of California. One of them said, "Twin Detectives solve missing Acorn thefts and save robin from bobcat." Another was about the two figuring out how to stop a bunch of humans from cutting down their forest. The last clipping was connected to a written entry from Chip himself. The clipping had the two wearing a set of bandages on their heads in a hospital room, one with a goofy smile on his face and the other with concerned look.

**_Chip's log: Dale and I were working on a simple task to collect acorns for the orphanage we live in. It was supposed to be simple at least. We didn't count on the local trouble coming through and trying to rough us up. I blacked out pretty quickly after knocking Jimmy No-Feet down off of my branch. The last thing I saw was Dale being surrounded by a group of mockingbird thugs. When I woke up, me and Dale were in the infirmary and it was spring. We had been unconscious for the entire winter. Dale was no longer able to think seriously without strain and I hated myself for that. I blame myself for Dale not being able to think anymore. I'm going to take him away from here and go live in another city, somewhere safer. There's an old acorn tree in this city I know of, so that shouldn't be too hard. I'll wait till we can move again. I won't drag him into this sort of thing again, after all, it's my fault he's like this… it's all my fault…_**

The rest of the page was covered in tear drops and smeared. Gadget and the others looked at each other with tears in their eyes. They hadn't realized that their friends held this bad of a secret. This explained while Chip was always so concerned about Dale, and why Dale was always goofing around. They couldn't help it!

"I knew they were always over protective of each other, but I didn't think it was because of something like this…" Monterey's eyes were filled to the brim with tears as he thought about all the times he had had with his parents while the boys only had each other at an orphanage in the California Redwoods. He then thought about how they always worried about everyone in the group, especially Chip. The day that he had introduced them to Cassandra, the gypsy moth, had terrified everyone. The had thought that they were all going to lose Chip, who's only concern was to help others. Dale had actually stepped up his game a bit that day, as he had started to seem smarter. They had thought that Chip was going to be crushed by an elephant's trunk when he was really nearly crushed by a treasure trunk with his friends trapped in it. Dale had nearly lost it until they heard Chip's voice from a small hole under the chest. He had apparently found a small hole in the floorboards and ducked into there as the trunk fell, nearly killing him.

Gadget thought about how protective she and her dad had been of each other before his death. Looking back, having only one person to turn to for help, she started to understand part of what Chip and Dale had gone through. Zipper had a whole family of flies as well as Monterey to watch out for him before they became Rescue Rangers. They had all had families, but Chip and Dale had only had each other.

While the other two sat down and absorbed all this information, Monterey decided to check up on the boys. He grabbed a large cracker for the boys and walked upstairs. He was surprised to find that Chip was awake and Dale was now asleep. It seems that Dale had cried himself to sleep while clutching Chip's paw. Chip was now stroking his brother's fur while crying silently to himself. He heard the door open and noticed Monterey come in with a cracker. Monterey grimaced and left the large cracker next to the bed for the two chipmunks if they were hungry. He then walked downstairs with a lighter feeling in his heart. Chip was alright, so that meant that Dale would be alright too. They would be alright.


End file.
